Increasing concern for energy efficiency in vehicles over the last decade or so has resulted in a variety of attempts to, amongst other things, reduce the weight of a vehicle to allow the same to be propelled by a smaller engine that will consume less fuel. Virtually all parts of a vehicle have been subject to consideration for weight reduction and the heat exchanger for engine coolant or so-called radiator is no exception.
In the case of weight reduction of radiators, the focus has been on the use of less dense materials in construction the radiator or the appurtenances thereto. Consequently, many radiators now in use today utilize aluminum components in preference to a copper brass construction because of the lesser weight of an otherwise identical aluminum configuration. Similarly, metal tanks and/or combination tanks/headers, have been replaced with molded plastic tanks which have a lesser weight than a corresponding metal tank.
These changes have indeed achieved weight reduction but at the same time have generated new problems unique to these constructions.
For example, in considering an aluminum radiator, the various components including tubes, fins, headers and headers/tanks, fillernecks, etc. are typically brazed together. Brazing, of course, requires subjection of the assembly to an elevated temperature and the high temperature can result in partial or entire annealing of the aluminum metal. While this may not present a problem in many parts of an aluminum radiator, it can cause difficulties in the fillerneck. The annealed material at the fillerneck is, of course, softer than the material would be if not annealed and may be so soft as to be easily damaged during handling in the manufacturing process or in the process of assembling the radiator to a vehicle. Furthermore, the same may be damaged if subjected to rough treatment in applying or removing a pressure cap from the fillerneck after the radiator has been installed in a vehicle.
In the case of the use of plastic tanks, the same are typically molded and formed by an injection molding process. Frequently, each different model of radiator core has its own unique form of tank to be applied thereto to form a completed radiator. This in turn means that tooling, including complicated molds, must be provided for each different configuration of tank.
In a typical tank, the most expensive part to tool for is the fillerneck which is integral with the tank. Thus, plastic tanks, though providing a weight savings, are more expensive than desired because of the complexity of tooling and the fact that a great number of differing tools are required because of the large variety of differing models of tanks.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the above problems.